I was surprised, to say the least, when only a week or two after my initiation into the Craft in July 2000, I received an e-mail from freemason.com, asking if I would write about the part played by the Internet in my introduction to Freemasonry.
    At 34, I am from that generation that left school as pocket calculators became a luxury item, yet have had to rapidly adopt technology in all its guises to survive in the work environment.
    Having had a long-standing interest in Freemasonry, I was a confirmed "fence-sitter" on all aspects of the fraternity until the summer of 1997, when I began to read into the subject more deeply.
    I read books on various aspects of Freemasonry, including the "popular" books of Robinson, Baigent and Knight & Lomas, as well as such authors as Alexander Piatgorsky.
    I also read the anti-Masonic authors Martin Short and Stephen Knight. The former authors made the greater impression, however, and by the winter of 1997 I had turned to the Internet to discover more.
    Being connected to the Internet gives a user three core ways to communicate. The first is e-mail, just like writing and posting a letter, but with the advantage that it arrives in seconds, anywhere in the world.
    The second is the newsgroups, common areas where people interested in different subjects can openly correspond with others. Both questions and answers are free for all to see and to learn from or contribute to.
    Lastly, there is the Internet itself, perhaps the best known feature being that it allows users to publish a website containing information about their business or group, their family….anything!
    My first port of call was the Internet. Here I visited UGLE’s pages and individual Masonic web pages globally. Then I subscribed to a newsgroup, where I followed the various threads of conversation until I came across a "contributor" whose comments I respected, and to whom I began to correspond regularly.
    After six months of my disturbing the busy life of my friend, I had decided I would indeed like to apply to join, and accepted my correspondent’s offer to be put in touch with a local Lodge. My friend could have been anywhere in the world. Astonishingly, he lived in the same small town as myself!
    We met regularly for about a year, after which, in mid-1999, I applied to join his Lodge. That first contact in cyberspace, a couple of years ago now, resulted in me becoming a Freemason.
    My own experience perhaps demonstrates that an Internet presence might be a useful first point of contact, both for interested non-Freemasons and potential visitors alike. And in the spirit of openness, a simple web page for the Lodge might just be a step in the right direction. It was for me.

Bro Keith Brooks is a member of Saxon Crosses Lodge No 6227 in the Province of Cheshire